Alice made to get up and help her friends, but Partridge, who would have joined his friends if he had not been entrusted with the safety of Alice, pulled her down and put a hand over her mouth to stop a cry that he was sure was on its way. They could only watch as Rawlins went down while standing over the body of his friend. He fell over the body of his friend with blood trickling from a wound to his head, for someone had used a slingshot on him.
“There are no more of the sacrilegious ones here, for I would have felt them if there were any nearby.” The shaman of the tribe stated, for he was only used to telepaths so he did not find the two earthlings hiding amongst the rocks, for they were not telepathic.
Alice and Partridge watched in horror as the bodies of their friends were each roped to one of the rough looking saddles of the horse-like beasts, and then the riders rode off dragging the bodies of the two men behind them.
Alice and Partridge looked after the disappearing warriors for a full five minutes; tears flowed freely down both of their cheeks, as two guilt-racked people wondered why they had not died along with their two friends, what was so special about them.
“I think that maybe we should go Alice, if Jim was correct, then that town should lay seven days behind that black rock.” Partridge said. “However, I think that we should maybe make a wide detour to the east, because that band of barbaric tribesmen seem to be heading straight for that mountain.”
“They may not be dead Dave and I for one am not leaving here before I find out. If they are alive then I am going to try to release them, you can help me Dave, but I would advise you not to hinder me.” Alice declared boldly.
“Ok Alice, I was only thinking about the instructions that Jim gave me.” Partridge said defensively and then he smiled at Alice as she gave him her instructions.
“Well these are mine Dave, we will gather up what food and water that we can carry and then make our way across to the mountain, but as you said earlier we will give our new friends a wide detour.” Alice decided grimly.
“Ok Alice, we will also need hats for the four of us plus coats to keep out the cold, as desert nights are usually decidedly chilly.” Partridge advised. Alice now smiled at him for saying they needed four hats and coats; it showed that he too thought that there was a chance that their friends were still alive.
He had occasionally hoped for a bit of excitement, but now it was here he realised that he could do without it. He hefted the heavy backpack that was filled with their provisions onto his broad shoulders; Alice smiled as he did so for he made it look so easy. He was tall and muscular, as he spent some of the long boring hours aboard ship working out, his brown hair was unusually scruffy following their hectic departure from the freighter, however, she noticed his brown eyes were wide-awake as he scanned the horizon for signs of potential enemies. Alice struggled into her own backpack and smiled at her friend.
“Right Alice, let’s go.” Partridge said putting his hat on, he then walked out into the desert with the hot sun blazing down upon him and Alice, who was following on behind.
**********
Willis could only guess at the type of reception that the occupants of the lifeboat had received at the hands of the nomads. He stopped to watch as the horsemen rode back towards the black mountain and their encampment before it, but they were hidden within a cloud of dust for the most part, he wondered if any of the survivors were still alive. Just then, a loud rumble came out of the large fissure that had opened up across from his hiding place; he guessed that the mountain was making itself comfortable after the explosive arrival of the starship. Then the fissure spread out from the impact scene, it ran quickly towards Willis and finally opened up beneath his feet. He found himself sliding down in to the depths of the mountain; he was to be the first honoured guest of its owner. Willis travelled so far down that the thought that he would not stop until he reached the planets hot core, flashed in to his mind. However, stop he did, and as in a miracle the sun chose this moment to shine its light down through the fissure, lighting up the cavern, which seemed empty.
The small insignificant thing that was Quasar sensed the entity Willis, a being that for some reason his telepathic powers could not penetrate. However, he could sense a mind, feel the life force flowing through its body, Quasar reasoned, quite rightly that the earthquake must have provided it. Whatever it was, his one desire was to merge with this being, for, as with the small creature of Purgatory, Quasar would make do with it until something better showed itself, he would have to go fishing.
Willis looked about his new abode to see that his worries were needless, for he saw that he would be able to climb back out of the cavern without too many problems. It was just as he was about to climb out that the sunlight lit up more of the gigantic cavern that lay before him. He stood there entranced by the beauty he saw there, and decided to take a closer look at some the stalactites that filled the room. It was as he walked over to get a better look at one particular stalactite that he tripped and fell to the floor, for his feet had become entangled in some long forgotten cord that was still attached to a computer from which he saw a green light blinking out its sign of life. He got up and dusted himself down; he was shocked to see signs of a modern civilisation deep within the mountain. How the hell had it got there, and more importantly, was it of any value, these thoughts and others flashed through his mind. Willis walked across to where the light blinked; he knelt down to get a better look, he could see that it was attached to some sort of technology that looked to be very old, from the dust on it, it appeared to be extremely ancient. It was now that he felt an intense pain shoot through his brain and he screamed out in agony. Feelings that he could only call evil, suddenly filled his brain, he also felt a curious feeling of relief that the time of waiting was over. A mind numbing pain suddenly consumed him, then he heard a voice inside his head, and laughter, and he realised that something was taking control of his body. All went black as a terrible coldness swept over him, tears ran down his cheeks; he tried to explain his feelings away as shock, or concussion, or even a nightmare from which he would soon awaken. This was the last thought to enter the mind of the entity that was Willis.
Quasar now moved his own mind into the human brain, he immediately felt the throb of organic life flowing through his senses, life that had not been his for ten thousand years was once more his to enjoy. He liked living the life of an organic; they had much more fun than the Mechanoids that had created him, for the Mechanoids could not feel anything, they were dead inside their metal bodies.
Quasar once more positioned himself upon the back of his host; the tentacle that had entered the brain was concealed by the hair of the human. He picked up the hat of his new host and put it on to help cover his tentacle and then gazed up at the hole in the cavern and saw where he could escape, using the skills acquired through his new host’s lifetime. Quasar limped across to the wall, he realised that his human host had injured his body when falling down in to the cavern and swore. He now realised that he was also angry and he smiled, for this was another thing he liked about organics, emotions, his favourite thing. Putting aside his thoughts regarding human beings he began to scale the wall, his hands were rough, having belonged to a prospector and they were used to this kind of work. The rough edges of the limestone prison did not bother him at all; soon he was looking out upon a desert plain. Below him, he saw some of the inhabitants of this strange land returning upon their horse-like animals, he knew who they were because his host knew them. Quasar had the freedom of Willis’s mind, and he could use it better than Willis had ever managed. Strength flooded into Quasar as he sucked some of the life force out of his host body; down below he heard his people calling to him, one of these would suit him better than this silent creature.
Quasar climbed down the steep side of the mountain; he was heading for the Alemanni encampment. He was soon noticed by one of its inhabitants who screamed out a warning of his presence to the returning men. The headman of the Alemanni people pointe
d in turn and soon fifty of the warriors had gathered at the point where Quasar would reach ground, carefully avoiding the still burning fragments of the freighter that littered the ground before the mountain. They quickly dismounted and cries of disdain reached Quasar’s ears who stopped his descent and focussed on the warriors beneath him. Although he was not living in a telepathic host, Quasar did have some telepathic abilities of his own, and he now used them. The people of the Alemanni soon quietened down, one by one they fell to their knees and the headman cried up to him.
“Lord Quasar, you have returned to your unworthy servants, please forgive us our disrespect for we did not know that you had risen once again.”
A hush fell over the people in the encampment as they heard these words spoken by their warriors, and moments later, as one person, they too fell to their knees to praise their god, Quasar.
It was easy for Quasar to impress a telepathic people, especially one as backward as these people had become during the last ten thousand years. They saw before them a giant of a man, fully ten feet tall, for Quasar was putting this image of him into their receptive minds. He soon reached his people and sought out the person who he would soon occupy, for the silent one who had once been the human Willis was useless to him on the grand scale. He needed one with both a psychic and a telepathic ability, for these would prove useful to him. He called to the shaman of the tribe, Hebron, and together they entered the man’s meagre quarters. Once away from the rest of the Alemanni people Quasar transferred his being to the shaman of the Alemanni, Hebron screamed out in agony as his terrible god took control of him, and the one who had been Willis collapsed to the floor. He was dead; all his remaining life force had been drained away by Quasar when he changed hosts. Quasar donned the dead man`s hat and smiled, for he was almost back to full strength, He had retained the psychic ability of his former Regan host, added to this were the very real abilities of the shaman, Quasar was now even more powerful than ever. With this power radiating from every pore he walked out to meet his subjects, they all looked fearfully at their shaman after hearing his terrible scream of agony, wondering when their god would appear.
“Alemanni meet your lord, I am Quasar, bow down to me and shout out your praises.” The voice of Hebron boomed out to his subjects.
The Alemanni were at first stunned by the sacrilegious words spoken by their shaman and began to voice their protests, but Quasar loomed over them once again, now fully ten feet tall and growing taller. He looked angrily down at the cowering Alemanni, his power roamed through them and they fell to the ground before their god and praised his most sacred being.
“There is a body within my tent, take it away, you may feast upon it.” Quasar said to the headman of the village, one Mahan, who ordered four of his warriors to obey their Lord Quasar. Quasar then turned to the nearest of the women of the village.
“My home is filthy, clean it so that it is a fitting home for your god.” Six women rushed forward and began to clean his tent, he smiled for he was truly back now, soon he would rule the planet Remus, and then its nearest neighbour Rega. Quasar knew of Earth from the being Willis, knew it to be a new rising galactic power, one that he would have to subdue at some point in time, but for now, he merely needed to build a power base. Later he would need to acquire a space fleet to go out and meet the aliens, but that would be for some time in his future.
In his new host, Quasar looked to be a jovial man, not at all dour as his last host had been, he had a kindly chubby face and when he smiled, you would never guess the evil that lay hidden beneath the facade. He was of medium build and height and had a full head of black hair, he also had a well-trimmed black beard and moustache, for all the Alemanni sported these, he also wore Willis`s hat, for Quasar was quite taken with it.
**********
Colt woke up still a little dazed and with a bad headache from the knocks that he had taken to his head when he had been dragged behind the horse-like animal, he opened his eyes and sat up, but everything began to spin around making him feel ever so slightly sick. He quickly closed his eyes and sat there for a moment before slowly re-opening his eyes, his head still ached but at least the spinning had stopped. Colt now attempted to stand up. Unfortunately, he was brought to a pain filled stop as an agonising pain rushed through his chest and cancelling out the pain in his head. He froze fearing that he had sustained an injury, a cracked rib perhaps, or something even worse, he assumed it must have happened when the horse-like animal had knocked him to the ground.
Across from him, he saw Rawlins, there was dried blood on the side of Rawlins head and he looked to be in a bad way. His clothes were badly torn and there were scratches upon his arms and head, Colt wondered if he too looked like this, when he looked down he saw that his own clothes were certainly torn and very dirty now. A groan from Rawlins told Colt that his friend was also waking up. They had woken to find that they were inside a small tent that appeared to be used to store equipment for the nomads` beasts, their hands and feet were still tied, but at least they were forgotten for the moment, for the nomads were busy satisfying the demands of their god.
“Are you ok Peter?” Colt asked in a low voice so as not to rekindle the nomads’ interest in them. He was very concerned that his friend felt as bad as he looked and was relieved when Rawlins looked across and gave him a weak smile.
“No Jim, I feel awful, in fact I feel as bad as you look.” Rawlins replied with a quiet laugh.
“Well see if you can move across here Peter, I have a knife in my pocket, if you can get it out we can see about getting free of these ropes before our friends out there remember us.” Colt said quietly.
Colt edged cautiously towards his friend, careful not to aggravate his wounds or have another lightning bolt flash through his head and body. Rawlins seemed to be in better shape as he squirmed his way across the hard sandy floor towards Colt. Rawlins stopped for a second and asked his friend a question that he had only just had the time to puzzle over.
“Jim what planet do you suppose this is, it certainly is not one anywhere near to Mazere or Phlox?”
Colt looked at his friend and shrugged. “I do not know Peter, but we were only in hyperspace for long enough to take us no further than say twenty or thirty light years. Maybe we are somewhere near to that planet Rega. The Church of the Universe has recently been sending missionaries to a couple of planets in that planetary system, it just might be one of them, if so then we might find help somewhere on this dustbowl, if we can manage to escape from these barbaric animals that is.”
Rawlins fingers were finally able to find Colt’s pocket knife within his friends pocket and he soon had it in his hands, between the two of them they finally managed to open the blade of the knife, thankfully their hands had been tied in front and not behind their backs. Rawlins began to saw at the rope binding Colts hands, soon Colt was able to tear his hands apart, but he had moved too fast in doing this and a pain shot through his head making him groan and warning him to be careful.
“Are you ok Jim?” Rawlins asked concerned for his friend. Colt recovered enough to smile at Rawlins and to cut the rope binding his friend’s hands before attending to the ropes binding their feet.
“I will be when something stops hitting my head; I think that I also did something to my chest.” Colt replied. “How about you?” Colt asked quietly, now so as not to aggravate his head any more than necessary.
Rawlins put his hand up to his own head to see how bad his injury was, and flinched when he touched the wound inflicted by the slingshot. Carefully touching it again to try to ascertain how bad the wound was, he found that his hair near to his temple was stuck to his head, and with his own blood.
“Jim take a look, is it bad.” Rawlins asked. He was just a little worried that his wound might turn septic.
“It looks to be all right, we can put something on it from the stores in the lifeboat, to stop it from becoming infected.” Colt said after inspecting the wound.
Rawlins settled
back against the main supporting post of the tent, he was a little more settled in his mind now that Colt had given him the ok, and hoped that the locals would forget about them long enough to allow them to escape.
“Keep the pieces of the rope Peter, just in case they come into check up on us, with luck they will not realise that we have freed ourselves if they see the ropes where they expect them to be.” Colt advised his friend.
He was finally able to stand up, moving so slowly and deliberately that it made him appear to be an old man, but at least his pain did not return this time. He now walked across to the flap that secured the access into the tent. Taking care not to touch it, he peered through the gap where the entrance was, to look out at the collection of tents around them. Their tent appeared to be in the middle of the encampment making escape impossible in daylight, they would have to wait until the night came, and hope to be still alive to attempt it then.
Colt noticed a coil of rope by the wall of the tent, it had been hidden behind some accumulated rubbish, carefully stooping down he picked it up and walked back to Rawlins.
“This will look better than those scraps Peter; I will tie your hands to fool any curious natives, but loosely so that you will be able to slip out should the occasion call for it.”
Dropping back down to the floor Colt tied his friend’s hands and when done they did the same for Colt, although this took them slightly longer. As for their feet, Colt simply laid a length of rope over their feet and tucked it in so that at a glance it would look to be ok.
“I think that I need a might some more sleep Peter, wake me if anything interesting occurs.” With these words, Colt laid his head back against a saddle and closed his eyes, moments later and he was asleep. Rawlins smiled and determined to watch over his friend, but he too fell asleep.